The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the two-week warning strike, which it suspended on Wednesday, could resume in the next one month if the government fails to meet the union’s demands.
On October 13, ASUU declared a warning strike, citing the federal government’s refusal to respond to several overtures to address the lingering renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement. The said agreement had considered issues bordering on the welfare of ASUU members and the repositioning Nigerian public universities to make them deliver on their mandate.
However, in a statement released on Wednesday, ASUU insisted that “should government fail to resolve the issues within the one-month window, the union reserves the right to resume the strike action without further notice.” It also cited useful engagements with representatives and agents of government in the last one week as reasons for suspending the strike action in the first place.
The decision followed aeries of meetings with the Yayale Ahmed-led federal government team to consider government’s response to the Draft Renegotiated 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement.
According to Chris Piwuna, who is the national chairman of ASUU, “we certainly have not achieved the twin-objectives of concluding the renegotiation, which started way back in 2017, and fully addressing other lingering issues. However, we are definitely not where we were prior to, and at the commencement of, the strike.
“This poignantly shows that, had government positively responded to the union’s earlier notices and appeals, there would have been no need for the strike in the first place.”
He also commended the swift intervention of the senate committees on tertiary education and TETFund, and labour, led by their respective chairmen. In his own words, “the union’s engagements with the two committees on Friday, 19th October, 2025, and a follow-up meeting with the deputy senate president, Senator Barau Jibrin, same day, appeared promising in amicably resolving all the outstanding issues.”
ASUU also acknowledged that the government has returned to the negotiating table, a feat it said was impossible for almost one year. While noting that a lot of more work is still required, the union said that the objective of the warning strike has been partly achieved, prompting its decision that the ongoing strike be reviewed to allow for a conducive atmosphere for further engagements between the two parties.
